If the law of tithing is still binding on Christians, why is it that they do not receive the promises after having complied with Mal. 3:10? The boll-weevil and other devourers prey upon the crops of tithe-payers as they do others. H.
1. We will not attempt to prove the duty of tithe-paying; it is abundantly supported by the Scriptures and abundantly confirmed by the experience of thousands.
2. Verses 8 and 9 should be considered with verse 10. Have offerings been considered as well as tithe, not only of the present, but of the past? Are we bringing, as the Revised Version expresses it, "the whole tithe" into the storehouse?
3. Are we paying tithe as a commercial affair? Are we giving God His tithe in order to get His blessing? or are we doing it because it is right whether we are blessed temporally or not?
4. The true motive of tithe-paying is to render to the Lord that which is His regardless of our desires or needs or future, because it is His and as faithful stewards we can do no other way.
5. Then, too, God does not design that all His promises shall be for this world. Here we must suffer many things for others' sake with others that we may manifest the power of His life. In the new earth God "will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm [and the boll-weevil and all the other pests]." Joel 2:25.
6. The Lord intimates that some will suffer and complain. They will say, "It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance?" Mal. 3:14. Do not be among the murmurers. Be sure that you have met God's demands with the nine tenths also.
7. Then trust God; wait till He speaks and makes all plain, and you will say with that redeemed company, "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints." Rev. 15:3. The tithe is not only a duty but a privilege.
